Bøker av William R Bill Archer

John F. Kennedy was profoundly moved by the tragedy of generational poverty after touring southernmost West Virginia during his presidential campaign. Six months after his election in 1961, President Kennedy established the President's Appalachian Regional Commission with the governors of all eight Appalachian Mountain states. On October 12, 1961, the Mercer County Commission joined forces with the president and the US Forest Service to donate a portion of the former Mercer County Poor Farm to develop the nation's first Forestry Sciences Laboratory. President Kennedy selected well-known forester Frank Longwood as director, and Longwood assembled a group of forest scientists who were dedicated to the task of restoring and marketing the Appalachian hardwood forest. With the same dedication that rocket scientists applied to fulfill Kennedy's dream of sending an American to the moon and back, timber scientists restored and marketed the great Appalachian hardwood forest. The US Forest Service left the site in 2016 but worked with the Mercer County Commission, the US General Services Administration, and the National Park Service's Historic Surplus Properties program to establish a site dedicated to history and public service.

Bland County is one of the smallest counties of the Old Dominion, yet it is filled with spectacular, unspoiled, scenic vistas that rival any rural area on the North American continent. Bland County is a tree-covered paradise with no incorporated towns, and about one-third of the county's 369 square miles are included in the Jefferson National Forest. The history of Bland County after the arrival of European settlers includes stories of patriotism, independence, as well as struggles against incredible odds. The Virginia General Assembly formed Bland County on March 30, 1861. The county has always been for progress, with lumber companies arriving in the late 19th century to harvest the county's vast timber resources and the railroad following at the start of the 20th century. Bland County was also home to a huge Civilian Conservation Corps camp in the 1930s. From communities like Ceres to No Business and Hicksville to Bland, the entire county has a great story to tell.